(AFP) Jussi Halla-aho, who led his nationalist Finns Party to more than double its seats in parliament in Finland’s election, is a former medieval language lecturer turned hardline MEP and vehement critic of immigration and Islam.
Less than six months ago, the Finns Party languished in fifth place in the polls ahead of an election where health reform and austerity looked to be the key battlegrounds.
But the 47-year-old Halla-aho’s campaigning on a hardline anti-immigration stance, which also questioned the need for action on climate change, electrified the campaign and brought in new waves of supporters whom the pollsters believe would not otherwise have voted at all.
The Finns Party won 39 seats in the election, up from 17 in 2015, finishing just one short of the largest party, the leftist Social Democrats.
